A map for the Map of the Fortnight 1 contest on www.alternatehistory.com.

EDIT: WINNER!

Topic was as titled.I decided for a version of Europe that is connected by a network of ironways (trains) and celestonavs (airships).Dominated by a mighty Holy German Empire this Europe is far more advanced in steam technology, using it for transport and war machines. The Last German-French War in 1855 was fought with steamtanks and celestonavs. The superior technology of the HGE ensured its victory and the dismembering of France.

Alternate history. Although your argument makes sense, more of Germany was Protestant Lutheran and not as zealous as Catholicism. The 'Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation' was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire, and most certainly was not a united German state in the sense of a single country.

That's an interesting way of seing 19th century Europe. But how did Prussia unite and beat Austria-Hungaria? Did Bismark (the most clever mind in international politics of that age in my opinion)have anything to do with it?

I really hadn't wasted much time on the POD, but I placed it near Charles the Bold surviving and dying 20 years later. America was discovered by Gustav Elber, a Burgundian explorer.New Russia is the result from a Russian civil war, having the weaker fraction retreating to 'New Russia' with German help - this is also the reason for the Baltic states as German territory = payment.For Byzantium - its a restored Empire, carved out from the former Ottoman Empire during a crusade in the 18th century. The basileus of the Byzantine Empire is actually from a Habsburg side branch.

The PoD must be rather early to have a surviving Byzantium, Bulgaria and Romania shifted northward and a "New Russian Empire" that would be more than half Finnish in our world. I also find it rather strange that the Baltic states are direct parts of Germany proper rather than dependent states like Poland, Danemark or Minsk.

I really hadn't wasted much time on the POD, but I placed it near Charles the Bold surviving and dying 20 years later. America was discovered by Gustav Elber, a Burgundian explorer.New Russia is the result from a Russian civil war, having the weaker fraction retreating to 'New Russia' with German help - this is also the reason for the Baltic states as German territory = payment.For Byzantium - its a restored Empire, carved out from the former Ottoman Empire during a crusade in the 18th century. The basileus of the Byzantine Empire is actually from a Habsburg side branch.

If the PoD is that early, some of the places shouldn't really exist, or have different names, etc. but that doesn't really matter. But I'm going to poke in my big nose anyhow, for Finland.

Helsinki was a podunk village until it was made the capital of the Grand Duchy in the 19th century. Seeing as how Finland in this ATL has somehow absorded a rump Russia (hehe, I have the exact same thing in the Steamopera, except the New Russia is Moscow, not St. Petersburg), that might still happen, but eh, it would probably be butterflied away.

Another small thing is that the names are in Finnish, which has a bit of an anachronistic flavour, even in the 1900, because the outside world would have known those towns and cities by their Swedish names. You could even take a step further and Russianise them a bit: this is what happened to Viipuri, which is today known as "Vyborg" (Viborg originally in Swedish). The Swedish names are: